This invention relates to air conditioners.
FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram of a conventional air conditioner described in Japanese Patent Application No. 56956/1989 (hereafter referred to as the conventional art); and FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the control of the action of this conventional art.
In FIG. 1, the numeral 1 denotes a power switch; 2 is a temperature detector that detects room temperature and is comprised of a thermistor or similar device; 3 indicates an A/D converter and 4 shows a switch cluster for selecting the operating mode and the like. The numeral 5 denotes a microcomputer, used as a means for calculating heating or cooling output, possessing a means for setting and/or changing the heating or cooling output, and comprising an input circuit 8, a CPU-9, a memory 10, and an output circuit 11. Switch setting signals for temperature, operating mode and the like which are output from switch cluster 4, together with temperature signals which are output from temperature detector 2 via A/D converter 3, are input into input circuit 8. A heating/cooling output adjusting device 12 regulates the rpm of compressor 7 through output from output circuit 11 to control the heating or cooling output.
The operation of the conventional art will now be described as related to cooling with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a flow chart stored in microcomputer 5 containing the means for calculating heating or cooling output. Turning on power switch 1 starts the process flow. Next, at Step F101, the set temperature Ts is set. Steps F102 and F103 set initial settings for a change-mode: in Step F102, time count t is reset; in Step F103, high cooling output is set. In Step F104, room temperature Tr detected by temperature detector 2 is input. Should the normal-mode be found to have been selected at Step F105, then, at Step F106, the cooling output will be calculated from set temperature Ts and room temperature Tr; and operation will proceed accordingly. Should the change-mode be found to have been selected as the operating mode at Step F105, if, at Step F107, the room temperature is one or more degrees higher than a high temperature setting Th which is higher than the set temperature, operation will proceed the same as that of the normal-mode at Step F106. The reason for this is that, should the room temperature be much higher than the set temperature, the comfort range may sometimes not be reached. If the change-mode is found to have been selected for the operation mode, and if the room temperature is less than Th+1 (degree), flow will proceed to Step F108. At Step F108, a judgment will be made of cooling output: in the case of high output cooling, in which the heating or cooling output is, for example, 20% higher, processing will proceed to Step F109; in the case of low output cooling, in which the heating or cooling output is, for example, 20% lower than a present output, processing will proceed to Step F115. Since high output cooling was selected at the initial setting at Step F103 during the initialization of the change-mode, processing will proceed to Step F109. At Step F109, operating time is counted up. If at Step F110 room temperature Tr is higher than low temperature setting Tl, and if operating time t is less than a set time to, processing will proceed to Step F112, whereupon high output cooling will be performed. Processing will return to Step F104 and proceed from Step F104 to Step F109. The low temperature setting Tl is less than the set temperature. Therefore, as long as the room temperature Tr is higher than the low temperature setting Tl, and furthermore as long as operating time t is within a certain set time, the unit will continue to perform high output cooling. If room temperature Tr is less than or equal to the low temperature setting Tl, the program will branch to Step F113 at Step F110; if the operating time t is longer than a certain set time to, the program will branch to Step F113 at Step F111. At Step F113 low output cooling will be set, and at Step F114 the operating time count t will be reset. Processing will then return to Step F104. In such a case, since the operating mode is the change-mode and room temperature is less than Th+1, processing will proceed to Step F108 and, since low output cooling has been set, will continue to Step F115. At Step F115, operating time t is counted up. If at Step F116 room temperature Tr is lower than high temperature setting Th, and if operating time t is less than a set time to, processing will proceed to Step F118, whereupon low output cooling will be performed. Processing will then return to Step F104. Therefore, over a set time to, the room temperature Tr will repeatedly rise and fall in the range between the high temperature setting Th and the low temperature setting Tl, both of which are near the set temperature.
The prior art as described above seeks to create a pleasant environment by invigorating the physical and mental activity level of people by controlling heating or cooling output in such a way so as to keep room temperature within a set range near a set temperature. The level of this invigoration brought about by this form of control can be thought of as being determined by the amount of stimulation the environment gives to people. In the case of cooling, if the amount of stimulation is large, people begin feeling refreshed. This leads to an increase in comfort and energy-efficiency. However, the prior art has a problem in that, although the heating or cooling output changes, as does the temperature of the outlet draft, room temperature changes very slowly, making it difficult to obtain a large stimulus.